Pastor Jeff Lunn of the Park Baptist Church in North County St. Louis, MO, highlights the life of a great nineteenth century missionary heroine, Lottie Moon. A southern aristocrat, she left her social status, homeland and family in sacrificially offering of her life to share Christ’s love in China.
Late in her life, during a time of famine, she gave away most of her food to her beloved Chinese, which eventually reduced her weight to 50 pounds. Lottie Moon basically died of starvation in a Japanese harbor (Kobe, Japan) on Christmas Eve while waiting to return on only her third journey home, December 24, 1912, aged 72. When she died, she just went to a different “Home,” … to her Heavenly reward!
The remainder of Christmas eve, and on Christmas day of 1912, and forever thereafter, she spent … and is spending in the joyful presence of Jesus and all the residents of Heaven! (For those of us who are in Christ Jesus: “… we are always confident and know that as long as we are present in the body, we are away from the Lord. We … would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him …” II Corinthians 5:6-9)
A great missionary offering is named in her honor – the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering — which each and every year provides multiplied millions of dollars from thousands of churches to advance foreign missions all over the world.
This offering provides approximately half the support for more than 3,700 foreign career missionaries serving with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Throughout her career, Lottie Moon wrote numerous letters home, urging Southern Baptists to provide greater mission involvement and support. One of those letters triggered Southern Baptists’ first Christmas offering for international missions.
Pastor Jeff tells of how his church, like many others, is providing a major focus to this important means of advancing the Gospel of Jesus worldwide. (Donations need not be restricted only to Christmastime.)
Perhaps our Heavenly Father is bringing even more “Heaven” to Lottie Moon’s heart right now: the mission board through which she served – as expressed through the late, great missions’ leader, Dr. Avery Willis — has estimated that 30,000 Chinese are now coming to faith in Christ – every day!
It is a pleasant thought to know that Avery Willis – my friend from university days … and Lottie Moon are now personal friends … in Heaven!)
Who was Lottie Moon? For more about this small but great lady, click on … https://www.imb.org/2017/11/06/irreverence-lottie-moon/ … and … https://www.imb.org/2017/11/17/what-lottie-moon-taught-me-about-injustice-and-the-gospel/.
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Selected missions-related Gospel- advancing links … for anytime listening!
The title is stated … followed by the link to click on to access it for listening:
“Dr Jerry Rankin led Intl Mission Board; here talks of church planting, his book on Spiritual Warfare”
“Willis, Dr. Avery – May 2008”
http://haroldhendrick.com/2008/05/23/willis-dr-avery-may-2008
“Dr David Garrison: ‘..we are in the middle of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history’”
“Longtime IMB missionary Mark Grossmann shares inspirational Gospel summary, ‘Creation to the Cross’”
“Ryan Wagner: ‘Jesus Film’ in any of 1,544 dialects, on millions of cell phones; www.jesusfilm.org”
“With IMB in Russia, son David Hendrick discovered IMB colleagues Dr. & Mrs. Yi murdered, martyred!”
“Effective missionaries Roger & Vicki Grossmann; planting their lives in Guatemala, giving their all”
“James Robison: conceived by rape, doctor wouldn’t abort him; received Christ, preached to millions”
“Allan McGuirl began www.galcom.org; made 1 million pocket solar radios to share Good News of Jesus”
(Now it is 2,000,000 Galcom solar radios produced)
“Son David Hendrick impacted by number of friends who have given their lives for their faith in Jesus”
“Columbian missionary Russell Stendal; once captured by wartime ‘gorillas’ in answer to prayer”
“With IMB in Russia, son David Hendrick discovered IMB colleagues Dr. & Mrs. Yi murdered, martyred!”